A TikToker has gone viral after sharing how dumpster diving in TJ Maxx went dramatically wrong.
In the clip, which has amassed 529,800 views, Zul Rodriguez (@zzzuulll) shared how it all started when she filmed herself dumpster diving at her local store.
What happened at this TJ Maxx?
“I went dumpster diving, found a lot of stuff in their dumpster, and it was all for funsies,” she said.
Rodriguez continued that she did it because she was “bored.
“So I went dumpster diving with my cousin. We did it for fun and games. We ended up finding a lot of stuff,” she said. “Of course, obviously, I made a video about it. It went freaking viral. Clearly, the video got to T.J. Maxx, or somebody that works there saw it.”
After the video got back to T.J. Maxx, Rodriguez says that she received a call from the police.
“I guess I was stealing from their trash—brand new trash that they could have donated to foster [homes], donated to people in need, give to homeless people, but they decided to throw it away,” she said. “I don’t know why stores do that. That’s their business.”
She remarks that the cops were “super nice about it,” but nonetheless gave her a warning and said that if she went back there, T.J. Maxx might press charges.
A Wanted poster
For Rodriguez, that seemed to be the end of it until she got a message a week later, which informed her that T.J. Maxx had made a poster about her. They shared her full name and email.
“I honestly thought it was funny,” she added. I was like, “There’s no way they took the time to print out a whole poster, put my name, put my email, call me a thief, say that I need to call the cops when they had already called me.'”
She said that if it weren’t for that person who sent her the picture of the poster, “I would still to this day not even know that I’m up on T.J. Maxx trash can.”
Rogriquez said this means no more dumpster diving videos. “Sadly, it was fun, well, while it lasted, but yeah, that’s pretty much how I got the cops called by T.J. Maxx for dumpster diving,” she concluded.
The Mary Sue reached out to the creator for comment via TikTok comment.
Commenters were mainly supportive
Most of the commenters were supportive of Rodriguez. “Girl they doxed you?” one wrote. “That’s a crime I think.”
“Oh baby TJ Maxx so weird bc it’s never that serious,” another added.
A third dubbed TJ Maxx’s actions as “lame” and asked, “Why don’t they get the actual thieves that steal from inside the store? But they are complaining about you dumpster diving.”
“That one employee is mad because she was gonna go for the stuff later,” a fourth speculated.
However, a minority of commenters claimed that dumpster diving is a crime, with one writing: “I mean dumpster diving is illegal, why would you make a whole post about doing that…”
TJ Maxx didn’t immediately respond to The Mary Sue’s request for comment via email.
@zzzuulll A couple of you asked for a storytime ? #fypシ゚viral #foru #storytime #dumpsterdiving ♬ original sound – zul ?
Is dumpster diving illegal?
It depends. The Environmental Blog says that once trash is placed on the curb, it can be considered abandoned.
According to the Supreme Court case California v Greenwood, police can search public trash without a warrant, which, indirectly, makes it acceptable to dumpster dive in public places.
However, the rules change if the dumpster is on public property, such as behind a store. Per The Environmental Blog, digging through trash on private property means you risk theft and trespassing charges.
Still, every state is different, so it’s a good idea to check the specific laws for your state.
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